


Faces and Masks

by Jevil_Joss



Series: The Legend of the Night Haunt [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: (there are plenty), Action, Alternate Universes, But Boy the spoilers for later seasons :D, F/F, F/M, Lies and Deception, Takes Place During Vol 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25867117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jevil_Joss/pseuds/Jevil_Joss
Summary: None of them knew what they'd find when they entered the laboratory. None of them were prepared for what was inside.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Roman Torchwick
Series: The Legend of the Night Haunt [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877029
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Narrow Escape

"Move, move, move!" Ruby repeated to herself as she jumped between the cargo containers. She fired over her shoulder, missing the White Fang thugs as Weiss leaned against the wall beside her. 

"There he is!" Weiss said, pointing to Roman Torchwick. The criminal mastermind straightened his hat, spinning and striding away. "Get him!" Weiss cried, setting up glyphs for Ruby to follow. Ruby charged down them, speeding towards Roman and lunging for him. He parried her swing with his cane, weaving away from her. "Little clingy, aren't you, Red?" he said, spinning his cane. 

"You're going down this time!" Ruby told him, swinging the scythe. Again, Roman dodged away, and he pulled a crystal from his pocket. 

"I'm never going down, Red, and this time, I'm getting lit _up._ " He threw the fire Dust crystal down at the ground, setting off an explosion. Ruby jumped back, and when the smoke cleared, Roman was gone. 

"Raggin'-fraggin'-son of a--!" Ruby kicked a rock on the ground, then ducked as bullets were fired at her. 

"Language," Blake said, appearing beside her and pulling her to safety. "What now?"

"Retreat," Ruby said over the comm link they'd set up with their scrolls. 

"Roger that," Yang's voice crackled in. "Weiss and I will meet you back at our dorms. And Roman...?"

"Got away," Ruby said. "I was this close..."

"You're gonna have to live with it," Blake said, pulling her along. Using her Semblance, she created duplicates of the two that jumped past the White Fang, getting their attention while the real Ruby and Blake crept to safety. 

"Every time," Ruby said. "Always so close..."

"Don't beat yourself up about," Blake said. "Come on. Let's go home for the night."

Ruby sighed, obligingly following Blake. "I guess you're right. We have to catch him sometime, right?"

"Maybe he'll turn himself in," Blake offered, trying to be encouraging. 

"...I don't think that's too likely," Ruby said, and Blake had to agree with that notion. 

"Worrying about it won't do any good. Let's go get some rest."


	2. Date Night

"So, which restaurant?" Yang asked Blake. "Hungry Ursa, maybe?"

"I'm not the biggest fan of barbecue," Blake answered. "Cecil's?"

"Seafood again?" Yang asked. "We went there last time!"

Blake stared at her, blinking her biggest, cutest eyes at her girlfriend. With a sigh, Yang relented. "Fine. Cecil's."

Blake hugged the blonde, kissing her on the cheek. "You're the best," she said. 

"I know," Yang laughed. "Yo, Rubes. Where were you heading on your date?"

"We were heading to Dawn's Sandwiches," Ruby told her sister, not looking up from the book she was reading. 

"And I don't suppose we could meet her soon?" Yang asked, a 'pretty please' smile on her face. 

Ruby shook her head. "No, she kinda wants to remain... _in the closet_ on this matter. Once she's comfortable coming out, then I'll introduce you." It was a bit of a lie...a lot of a lie...and Ruby was not entirely comfortable telling it. 

_Course, telling the truth is gonna be hard..._

She checked the time. "I oughta head out now. Have fun!" She left quickly, remembering to silence her phone. If Yang absolutely needed to call her, she could call Dawn, who was nice enough. 

At the same time, when had Yang absolutely needed to call her on her date night? It had never happened before. There was no reason to suspect anything different tonight. 

Ruby wasn't sure if Yang knew where Dawn's was. It was a long bus ride down town, and afterwards, a bit of a walk. But Yang had never mentioned the distance when Ruby went on one of her dates before, and Ruby had no problem traversing it. Especially given her newer familiarity with the area. 

Dawn's Sandwiches smelled like it always did--like grilled meat and cheese. Ruby inhaled, savoring the smell a moment. "'ey, Rose," Dawn said with a grin. She wore her normal cowgirl boots and blue crop top and shorts, with a matching hat. Twin braids of red and yellow hair slid out from under the hat, and two blazing red eyes greeted Ruby with a warm smile. "He's waiting at table six."

"How's it been for you?" Ruby asked. 

"Same old, same old," Dawn said. "You want your usual?"

"Yes, please," Ruby said with a grin. She moved on towards table six, sitting down. 

Roman Torchwick poured her a glass of tea. "You're late."

"You're early."

"Same thing."

Ruby smiled, taking her tea. "Which table's Neo at?"

"Eight, but she's absolutely sure you won't spot her this time. Pretend you didn't see her until the end."

"Gotcha."

Roman was Roman. Egotistical, slightly psychotic, but nice enough and always ready for some jokes. Ruby was still working at him, hoping to convince him to quit the life of crime. If she managed it, she could introduce him to her team, and have everything be perfect. As the sun set, she thought, _How hard could it be?_

"Oof." Yang folded her arms behind her head as she walked, smiling. "I'm stuffed."

"I could have eaten more," Blake groaned, hands on her stomach. "I would have regretted it, but I could have eaten more."

Yang patted her on the back. 

"Don't, I'm gonna vomit," Blake said warningly, waving Yang away. "Nooo. I will hork on you."

Yang laughed. "You're fun," she said. 

"I know." Blake paused, sniffing the air. "Yang?" 

Yang sniffed. "I don't smell anything."

"I smell Dust. Someone's fired weapons around here." She pulled out her scroll, calling their weapon lockers down. Yang pulled on her gauntlets quickly, sneaking forward. "Where?"

"That building. I think."

It was a small warehouse, one of the front doors leaning open on its hinges. Yang crept forward, calling her team and team JNPR. "Guys?" she said. "We're heading into a warehouse. Weapons have been fired around here and--" She stopped, looking down to find out what she stepped on that crunched. An odd-looking gun. She picked it up, then looked to the warehouse. "Something definitely happened here," she confirmed. 

"On the way," Weiss's voice rang out over the scroll. "Where?"

"Corner of 9th and Main," Yang said. "Straight left when you exit Cecil's."

Blake motioned for silence, so Yang whispered, "Get into contact with Ruby. Come quickly. This could be _it._ "

She and Blake crept into the warehouse, moving stealthily. 

From the outside, it looked wooden and rotten. On the inside, it was smooth, polished chrome. Blinking lights lined the walls, but Yang noted that most of them were red. She walked through the only open door, not seeing any way to open the other ones. "I don't see anyone," she whispered. The lights flickered on and off, and as the two slowly moved forward, Yang looked to the sides. Glass walls into empty cells. 

Most of the glass panes were shattered. 

"Whatever was contained in here...got out," Blake said as she walked through the doorway at the end of the corridor. She froze abruptly, causing Yang to rush up to her. "What's wrooooooong...." Her jaw hit the floor. There was a circular walk way, with ladders situated along it, and a massive drop below and above them. Every inch of the walls were lined with cells, and almost all of them were missing their occupants. The ones that had their occupants were full of Grimm, or other...creatures. Not human, clearly not Grimm. Yang sensed Aura from some of them. One of the cells appeared to have a gas cloud in it, except that this gas cloud was humanoid and swirled so that it looked like it had eyes. 

"Whatever this is..." Blake gulped. "We need to leave."

The door shut behind them. "So that's how you want to play?" Yang growled, rushing forward to punch it. She went through it, and ended up right back in front of Blake. She fired a blast from Ember Celica at it, only to have it go right back at her. 

"It fires everything back out?" Yang gasped. "Now that's cheatin'."

"We're stuck here, aren't we?" Blake asked slowly. 

Yang thought about that. "Come on. Let's find a way out."


	3. The Inner Lab

"How did the people who built this open it?" Yang burst out angrily. "Clearly, it was built so that it _could_ be opened."

"There's got to be another way out," Blake said. "Let's find out where these ladders lead."

"You'd think they'd have like, elevators or something," Yang said. Blake pushed a button on the side of a ladder, and a small platform zoomed up the ladder to them. "Clearly, they do," she said. 

Yang stepped on the platform with Blake, resisting the urge to look over the edge. "Up or down?" Blake asked. 

"Up. Down has to be underground, and that is _not_ a way out. Unless into the sewers, so we try that afterwards."

"That's what I was thinking," Blake agreed, pushing the up button. She looked over the edge, turned an odd shade of green, then sat down within the railing. Yang sat down beside her. "This has got to be a dream," Blake said. "The...the food must have been bad, and this is some hallucination."

"We're going to have to assume everything we're seeing as we progress is real," Yang said firmly. She looked around. "The lights don't seem to be as broken up here. And more of the cells look occupied. Where did you tell this to go?"

"The double up button. I presume that means the top one."

"At the speed we've been going, we're quite a bit above where the roof of that warehouse was," Yang said, looking up. There was still a long ways to go. She pulled out her scroll, then grimaced. "No connection, either."

"This is crazy. This can't be real."

"It all feels real, and if we assume it's fake and we're not in danger, we're gonna die," Yang said. "This place was clearly built to keep stuff contained, and it looks like something got out and broke everything else out."

"What's the point of holding all these creatures in cells?" Blake asked. "And what even are most of these creatures?"

They couldn't see any details on what were in the cells on their way up. As the platform stopped, Yang realized she didn't want to. "You feeling sick? Can you walk?"

"I should be fine," Blake said, standing up with Yang and stepping off the platform. Yang examined a sign on the first cage she found--it appeared empty, though the glass wasn't broken. The writing was unintelligible, but then twisted and rearranged itself. 

"Dimension 67 dash dash 32: Alloran." Yang and Blake shared a look. Blake continued reading. "Subject type: Demon, class 3. Minor reality warping, but limited. Must bind self to mortal host. All personnel are forbidden from saying 'yes' to any request or making any non-work related conversation with subject. Do not name subject in case of containment breach. Do not draw on glass. No five-sided shape drawn with chalk or ink is allowed within fifty feet of cell."

Yang drew her eyes to the side, reading, "Subject name: Weiss Schnee?"

A deep violet shroud filled the cage, and a pale hand landed on the glass, long red fingernails clacking against the glass. "Hello, mortals," Weiss's voice asked in a spine chilling rasp. Weiss stepped out of the smoke, hands resting on the glass. Her hair was down, her eyes a bloody red, and instead of her dress, she wore a violet armor that showed off ludicrous amounts of skin. "What say you we make a deal? Let me out of this cell, and I will fulfill your darkest dreams and desires..."

"That is a horrible idea," Blake said. 

"What about Roman Torchwick? And Adam Taurus? Surely you must want them dead...I can kill them, if you just let me out...I will make sure their deaths are painful."

"No thank you," Yang said, leading Blake away. 

"LET ME OUT!" the demon screamed. The glass rang out, but thankfully didn't break. "LET ME OUT OR YOU WILL PERISH! IT WILL BE LONG, AND SLOW, AND I WILL DRAG YOUR ENTRAILS THROUGHOUT THE SEVEN CORNERS OF THE EARTH! _LET! ME! OUT!"_

Yang and Blake hurried away as the demon banged against the glass. "I guess that's what it meant by dimension," Yang said. "Another Remnant? With another Weiss?'

"We can't trust anything in one of these cells," Blake said. "We don't know what's bad or not." She turned back to look at Yang, who was gazing into a cell with pain. Blake stepped up beside her. This cell was different, a long corridor. Held airborne by her hands was another Ruby, in an almost identical outfit to their Ruby. She looked up at them, a glare of fury upon her face. Her eyes were red, her skin pale, and each and every vein was visible. 

"We can't trust anything in here, can we?" Yang said. 

"Not even her," Blake said, grabbing Yang's hand and squeezing it. Yang rested her other hand on the glass, saying, "I'm sorry."

Almost twenty feet away, Ruby nodded slowly, mouthing something. Yang let herself be dragged away by Blake. 

"I can't get in touch with Ruby," Weiss said, frowning. "This is clearly the place, but..."

"Ren, Nora, you go to this Dawn's Sandwiches place," Jaune commanded. "Just in case."

"Whoever Dawn is, she didn't answer the phone," Weiss said. 

Ren walked down the road with Nora. The sun was in the middle of setting, and he tried calling Ruby once more. "No answer."

"Is she still on her date?" Nora asked, flabbergasted. "Who sits and talks to their girlfriend for, what, three hours straight?"

"Maybe she's listening to her girlfriend," Ren said. "I've done that three hours straight."

"But we're not 'together' together, right? Weren't we together on this?" Nora asked. 

"That's the sandwich place," Ren said, ignoring Nora's question. "And there's Ruby-- _get down._ " He pulled Nora behind the wall, then peaked out at Ruby. 

"What is it?" Nora asked. 

"She's talking to Torchwick," Ren said. "She's laughing? They're separating." 

"Is someone there?" Ruby's voice called out. 

"What's up?" Roman. 

"I heard voices."

Ruby peaked around the corner. "Ren? Nora? What are you doing--?" She stopped immediately when Stormflower was put up to her face. "Okay. So...maybe give me a chance to explain..."

"Explain what you're doing with Torchwick?" Ren demanded. 

"Put one bullet in her and you won't be able to count how many I put in you," Roman said firmly, pointing his cane at Ren. 

"Guys! Please calm down!" Ruby begged. "Please. No one has to get hurt. Everyone, lower your weapons. We can talk. Okay?"

Hesitantly, Ren lowered his weapon. But he didn't put it up. Roman casually lowered his cane. "Let's talk inside," he said. "I'm sure Dawn wouldn't say no to more business."

"We met one day," Ruby began, sipping a thing of coffee. "It was dark and raining, and neither of us immediately recognized the other. After we got started, neither of us stopped talking to fight the other. That day, I think we both needed a little bit of chatter."

"I hesitate to say love at first sight," Roman said, lifting his own coffee, "but I honestly can't think of any other reason why I didn't just take her out that day."

"Aw," Ruby said, smiling up at him. "So, yeah. I've been dating Roman for over a month."

Nora chomped into her sandwich. "FUCK! We left Weiss and the gang at the weird warehouse place!"

"What?" Ruby asked, looking up in alarm. 

"I'll explain on the way! We need to go! They could be needing backup!" She dragged Ren behind her, stepped back to pick up her sandwich and bring it with her, then ran out the door. 

"Wait up! Explain again!" Ruby ran after them, pulling out her scroll. Roman downed his coffee, putting the cup down. "Neo, go back home. Find an excuse that satisfies Cinder, do not let her know where I am and what I'm doing. I'm going to be gone for a bit. Keep her distracted." He ran out the door. 

Neo stretched out her hand, let it fall, then stared after Roman for a long time. 

"Uh..." Dawn looked around her now empty shop. "Guess I oughta close up soon."

Neo flipped her off, then jumped out the window.


	4. The Night Haunt

Yang opened the door into an office. A chair was seated in front of a group of monitors, and each of the ones that were working was focused on a different room. A few guns lay on the ground, their owners nowhere in sight. A pair of large manuals lay on the desk with a matching pair of armbands. 

"Ravensight," Yang read off the computer, taking a seat. "What's that mean?"

"Maybe it's the brand," Blake said. "Maybe the place we're in." She examined the arm band, looking at the screen. She lifted it up, frowning at it. It had no buttons or controls of any kind, and tapping the screen did nothing. 

"These are research journals," Yang said, flipping through. "This was a laboratory. They were studying the things from other Remnants."

"Yang, I doubt that, whoever they were, they were from this world," Blake testified. She lifted the armband up, blinking in surprise when information popped on its screen. She looked past it at the monitor, towards an occupied cell with an ursa-like creature in it, then back at the armband. "It's displaying information about the things in the cells," she said. "With so many things in this place, they'd have to have something like this."

"Hey," Yang said hesitantly. "Look at this." 

Blake looked over the blonde's shoulder at the journal. "That Ruby we passed was their latest capture, this says," Yang said. "Dimension 'Remnant' dash dash A1:13. Subject designated as 'the Night Haunt'."

_This is clearly the most dangerous thing we've ever captured. We cannot keep her contained. Ravenwing hasn't been able to even get a hold of her yet, and we only managed to by luck. She has a plan. When I look into her eyes, I don't see someone begging for mercy. I see a monster that is daydreaming about vengeance, and knows exactly how it's going to get it. She will get out. I know that._

_We shouldn't have grabbed her. She's already started something--since we got her, we've been having computer problems throughout the facility. Doors randomly locking. Lights turning off. We restarted the system, and ran diagnoses multiple times. Nothing out of the ordinary was detected._

_All this means I want to be the first one to get the fuck out of here._

"Subject is a local designation: human/local designation: Grimm hybrid," Blake read. "Her Aura works sporadically, turning on and off at random intervals with no discernible pattern, but her healing is constant. She senses emotions. Emotionally distressed personnel are forbidden from entering within 30 feet of containment. No talking of any sort is allowed with subject. Anything subject says is to be reported to the closest higher officer available, and persons whom the subject can remember the name of are to be moved to working on other subjects immediately."

"'Ravenwing has her listed as a Class A Criminal Mastermind'," Yang read. "'Subject is to be kept in constant pain to keep her from planning'."

"She has a criminal record," Blake said with a frown. "Mass murder, attempted murder, wanton destruction...'technical genocide'?!?"

"Technical?" Yang frowned, rubbing her head. "What's that mean?"

"Put this on," Blake said, handing the armband to Yang. "With them, we can figure out what anything we encounter is."

Yang obliged, staring at the journal. "We've got Ravenwing and Ravensight. Ravensight appears to be a lab, and Ravenwing is listing all of her crimes. So they're police?"

"Perhaps," Blake said. "Let's keep moving."

Weiss gave both of the closed doors experimental shoves, and neither opened. "I don't think Blake and Yang went either of those ways," she said. "Dammit, why didn't they _wait_ for us?"

"They might have felt there was someone they could help going in then," Jaune said. "Maybe they thought it couldn't wait. Regardless, we can't wait in case something happens to them. We have to look for them, and there's only one path to go down."

Weiss shuddered as she examined all the broken glass cells. They were situated well apart from each other, and only a few weren't broken. 

"Another closed door?" Jaune growled. "They must have gone down this way. So the door closed behind them?"

Weiss created some glyphs leading up to it. "Knock it down."

Jaune nodded, taking a running charge and ramming his shield into the door. 

The door flickered blue and Jaune disappeared into it only to come back out facing the other direction. He skidded to a stop, but not before bowling into Weiss. The two collapsed in a heap, and Weiss hurriedly shoved him off herself. 

"That was weird," Jaune said, standing up unsteadily. 

Pyrrha stepped close to it, frowning. "It's metal," she said. "So...stand back. I'm going to try and break it with my Semblance, and I have no idea which way it might go flying."

Jaune and Weiss obliged as Pyrrha stretched out her hand and closed her eyes. The door creaked, and creaked. A bolt on one of its hinges popped off. Then the top part folded forward and the bottom folded backwards, making a really flat S shape. Pyrrha sighed stepping back. "That's the best I can do. Something...something is blocking me from using my Semblance on it properly."

As she finished talking, the door creaked again. Weiss immediately stepped in front of her and created an ice barrier, but watched in awe as, through the ice, the door crumpled, folded upon itself, and turned into a ball. The walls on the sides of it bent towards the door, and the ice barrier cracked. For a hesitant moment, all was still. Then, the door crushed itself out of existence, pulling large sheets off the walls with it, in addition to the fallen bolt. Weiss's ice wall shattered and the shards hurtled through the now empty doorway. Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune found themselves sliding a foot forward each, but no further pulling was done. 

After a silence, Jaune said, "Was that a black hole?"

"A small one," Pyrrha said quietly. 

"Let's keep moving." Weiss moved through the doorway, looking around. "Holy fucking shit!" she gasped. 

Normally, her language was fairly clean unless Yang's general shenanigans were involved. As he examined the walls lined with cells, Jaune had to agree that this called for a little profanity. 

"There are fewer cells up above," Pyrrha stated. "They're farther apart."

"That probably means the occupants are more dangerous," Weiss guessed. "Which way did Yang and Blake go?"

Jaune jumped as a glass wall behind him thumped, and he looked at the gaseous being inside the cage, staring at him. "This tunnel place is way bigger than the warehouse," he said. "Since this door looks like it closed behind Yang and Blake--assuming they went down here--they were stuck. Down would only lead underground, and there wouldn't be any way out down there. They would have gone up in hopes of reaching the roof."

"I hope we don't have to climb the ladders," Weiss said, moving over towards them. Pyrrha pushed a button, and a platform descended from above. 

"They must have gone up, then," she said. "If they used this."

"Or someone else went up," Jaune pointed out, peeking through a broken glass wall. "That's an extension cord!"

The three of them fit on the platform, and for once, Weiss was thankful she was short. Despite being well muscled, Pyrrha was rather slight of build, as was Jaune. 

"Let's start from the top," Pyrrha said, pushing the double arrow button. 

"You probably have to hold down the button to go down short distances," Jaune said. "Gods, that has got to be infuriating to deal with."

"'Do not recite poetry or rhyme while on elevator'," Weiss read. "'Do not engage in electronic long distance conversations with other personnel. Do not speak the names of any subjects. Mind the railing'."

"What delightful, normal warnings to have on an elevator," Jaune muttered sarcastically. 

"What were they doing here?" Pyrrha said. "What's in most of these cells?"

"That mist creature really freaked me out," Jaune said. "I didn't know stuff like that existed."

"To the best of my knowledge, something like that should be impossible," Weiss agreed. The elevator screeched to a stop, in front of a corridor. 

"If the occupants up here were more dangerous," Weiss said, looking into the empty first cell, "then they were also really good at breaking out."

Only a few cells were actually still intact, and a lot of the ones that were still intact were empty anyway. 

"'Dimension 67-32: Alloran'," Jaune read. "Dimension? As in, other worlds? Other Remnants?"

"That's some weird subject-containment procedures," Weiss said. "Just say no, don't draw anything, some gibberish about pentagrams. Is that my name?"

"If it is another world..." Pyrrha frowned. "It could be another you."

"Then let's move on before things get complicated," Weiss said, moving on. "Ruby?"

The three stopped in front of a long corridor cell, and at the end, they saw Ruby Rose suspended in the air by her hands. 

"What do we do?" Pyrrha asked. 

"Get her out!" Jaune said, slamming the door. This one banged, and after a few good hits, buckled inward. The three charged into the corridor cell, looking up at Ruby, suspended fifteen feet off the ground. 

"Be ready to catch her," Pyrrha said. "I'm going to rip those hand-lock things off." She held up her hands as Weiss stepped into position. As before, there was a sort of resistance in using her Semblance on the metal. It was less noticeable here, however, and she was able to quickly free Ruby. 

The young girl fell, and Weiss caught her. "Ruby? You alright?"

Two red eyes blinked open. "Been a while...since I heard your voice," she said slowly, breathing shallowly. She smiled. "Hello, Weiss."


	5. No Escape

"Can you walk?" Weiss asked. 

Ruby grimaced, looking down at her legs. "Don't think so," she said. "Thankfully, that damn machine was one of the first things to break. I was getting a little tired of the constant stream of electricity running through me."

"Gods," Pyrrha said, shaking her head. "We can carry her, but we have to keep moving. We need to find Yang and Blake before something happens to them."

"They went back down," Ruby said. "They stopped by my cell, then went the other way. I'm thankful for your little detour, however."

Weiss lifted her up. "Come on. Let's go back down then."

"A map!" Blake cried triumphantly. She slammed a button the computer, and a large 3D model of the lab appeared, a shimmering blue hologram. 

"There's the entrance," Yang said. She frowned, then lifted the hologram up with a gesture that scrolled down. "Damn, this thing goes deep," she said. "That looks like an exit, all the way at the bottom, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it leads into."

Blake scrolled up, all the way to the top floor. "We were on the opposite side of the pit," she said. "That is the exit. We can get out onto the roof, and the warehouse wasn't that big. We can leap to the ground, or another building."

"Let's start moving," Yang said, stepping out of the room. She froze, then rushed to the cell where the Night Haunt had been. 

The door was caved in, the locks smashed, the cell, empty. 

"Oh, no," Blake said. 

"The last thing we needed was a murderous, psychopathic Ruby," Yang declared, continuing on. "Hey...where'd the lift go?"

"She must have taken it down," Blake said. "She probably doesn't know the front door is closed."

"Then let's not be here when she comes back up," Yang said. "I don't think we want to get to know her."

They ran, moving fast towards the opposite side of the room. "Come on! Hurry!" Yang called out, heart hammering in her ears. She didn't even both looking at the occupied cells as she passed, then saw it. 

"The exit!" she cried, running. The door was even open already! She and Blake burst out onto the roof, collapsing onto the ground, gasping in the open air. 

"I'm never going indoors again," Yang gasped. "Never. Not once."

"We actually made it out," Blake gasped. "I was thinking we might be stuck in there."

"Well, you're not out yet," Yang's voice said gruffly. A thick, metal boot hit the ground between the two, and they jumped up and away from the armored figure. It was a worn and rusted suit of armor, with a pointed visor and no eye holes. The other Yang wore a thick red cloak around her shoulders, fluttering behind her in the wind. It had numerous visible rips and tears in it, and like Yang, she had a thin piece of cloth tucked into her belt. Her gauntlets were similar to Yang's, but a little more archaic in design, with more gears. A massive mane of flaming hair cascaded from her head, and she had a massive broadsword on her shoulders. 

"I knocked that door down, but getting off the roof is just as big of a challenge as any other way of exiting," the other Yang said. "The building is taller than you'd think."

Yang rushed over to the edge, seeing deep, blue clouds below them. She stumbled, sitting down as she realized. "We're still not out," she said slowly. She pulled her scroll out, then threw it off the edge. "No damn signal!" she cried. 

The other Yang--the one in armor--shrugged. "I still have something I need to do before leaving," she said, striding back into the building. "Meet me at the ladders, perhaps we can find a way out together." She had to duck down to fit through the door, but she went back inside nonetheless. 

Yang looked over the edge. They were too high up to jump off, unless she wanted to die. 

"What if we're stuck here?" she said. "What if we can't get out again?"

"We'll find a way out," Blake said quietly. "We have to."

"But what if we don't?" Yang burst out. She breathed heavily, panting. 

Blake sat down beside her girlfriend. "There's another exit, underground. It looked like down there is where most of the facility actually is, a lot of the labs and stuff. We'll have to go down there."

"And maybe I can help you," said a new voice. A woman in red stepped around a large pipe, watching them with a smile. Red eyes, a mess of uncombed black hair on top of her head. Sword at her side, multiple bead necklaces around her throat. 

It took Yang almost ten seconds to recognize her. "Mom?"


	6. Breaking and Entering

"They didn't wait for us?" Ruby asked. She pulled out her scroll, frowning when she got no answer. 

"Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune were heading in to see if Yang and Blake needed help," Ren said, peering down the hallway in the only open door. "Come on. Let's go after them."

"Ah-buh-buh-buh-buh!" Roman tutted, waving a finger. "First, I feel like they can handle themselves, if I have seen anything of them so far, it's that. Second, I'm a little more interested in the unopened doors."

"Unfortunately, your interests aren't the reason we're in here," Ren said coldly, turning to find Roman examining a door. 

"These are almost exactly like the doors to my office," Roman said, tapping his chin. "And you want to know what one of the main things I keep in my office is?" 

"What?" Nora asked. 

"A map of my place," Roman said. "Any big place like this--and I feel like this place goes underground a bit, unless the five of them are waiting right past that door down there--would need a map, or at least schematics."

"But how do we get in?" Ruby asked. "Does anyone have a crowbar, or lockpicks, or something like--" 

Roman fired four times, hitting the edges of the door, near the hinges. The hinges smoked, and he tapped it with his cane. "Damn, that's some quality work," he said. 

"Good going, genius, it's still up," Nora said, folding her hands over her head. 

"Well, I wasn't expecting that to take it down," Roman said with a casual shrug. "After all, you're my muscle at the moment."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nora said, offended. 

"Well, I have a door here, needing it opened. I have you there, holding up a massive hammer. I assume that a 'genius'--" Here he actually lifted up a hand and gave large, extravagant air quotes. "--like you clearly are can make something happen."

"Oh." If Nora was offended, she didn't show it. She stepped forward, tapping the door lightly with Magnhild. "Stand back!" She waited until everyone had cleared a path, then lifted the hammer, turned on the rocket to make it go faster, and hit the door as hard as possible. The door rang out, and Nora actually bounced off and fell on her butt. The entire room shook, and the ringing of metal echoed throughout the facility. Roman reached over and tapped the door with his cane. This time it fell, slowly inwards, with a crash. 

"I want whoever built this place--to make my house," Roman stated matter-of-factly. He stepped into the room, over to the large desk. He looked over it, at the massive set of monitors which were all in working order. "Guard station," Roman grimaced. He spun the chair in front of the monitors around, looking at the gun that had been dropped in it. 

"There's an awful lot of weapons just sitting on the ground," Ruby pointed out. "Who just drops weapons like that?"

"It means their owners were killed and their bodies hauled without enough of a struggle to damage anything in this room," Roman said quietly. "I'd say poison, but there aren't any bodies." He opened the large book on the table, reading. 

"Look! It's Jaune!" Nora pointed at one of the monitors, where Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, and--

"What the hell?" Ren burst out, watching a second Ruby on the monitor. He looked from Ruby to the security camera in rapid succession. "What is going on here?"

"Ooooooooh," Roman said, drawing out the sound. "Oooooh nooooo." He slammed the book shut, looking from it to the cameras. "Ancient and omniscient my ass. This place has been here for years, and you or your boss never knew _nothing_ about it."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby said, cocking her head. 

"This is the employee manual for a company called Ravensight," Roman said, tapping the book. "And oh boy. Did they have the funnest job."

"Qrow! Qrow! _Get up!"_

It took Qrow a moment to recognize the voice. His hangover was not making anything easier, and as he bolted upright, he turned to face his sister. He had no clue how Raven found him, but as he wearily rubbed his eyes, he wasn't given the chance to ask. 

"My bond with Yang," Raven said, pale. "I lost it. I can't travel to her."

"What?" Qrow was fully awake now, grabbing his sword in an instant. "What happened?"

"She's not dead, she's still--there, I think," Raven said quickly. "But--dammit, this scares me! She went somewhere my Semblance can't follow!"

"Do you know exactly where she went?" Qrow asked. 

"I think she's still in Vale," Raven said. "But I know if I find the place, I'll know."

"No time to waste," Qrow said, stumbling towards the door. _The worst possible time,_ he thought grimly. 

"I don't believe it," Yang said, stumbling to her feet. "How did you get here?"

"...trial and error," Raven chuckled. "Don't worry, I found a way out. To get you home."

"Really?" Yang said, jumping up. "I--I have so many questions!"

"And you'll have time for all of them, but for now, we need to move," Raven said, beckoning. She moved back inside, and Yang hurriedly followed. "How did you get on top of the building? Are--" She stopped abruptly. "Are you one of the subjects?"

"No, I am your mother, Yang," Raven chuckled. "Nice catch, though." She opened one of the side doors, beckoning. "Come on!" As she moved inside, Yang caught a glimpse of the armored version of herself standing, arms folded, at the end of the hallway. Slowly, the other Yang shook her head, and while Yang couldn't see her face, she felt like it was a glare.

Yang chose to ignore that and follow her mother. Blake followed a step behind as Yang pushed through a clump of vines. 

"The occupant of this cell happens to have been a plant," Raven said. "Dunno what they wanted a plant for, but without anyone to check on it, it ended up ripping a hole in the wall. And with all these vines, we can make a rope to the ground."

"I--I have so many questions. How did you find us? Why did you leave? Why come back now?"

"Cuz for the first time in almost twenty years, you need my help," Raven said with a motherly smile. "I didn't have much of a choice in leaving, Yang, but I'm going to be here for you when you need me. Nothing is ever going to stop that."

"Mom, I--I--" Yang stepped closer, but Blake pulled her back. "Where is the hole in the wall?" she asked hesitantly. Raven stepped aside, showing the massive crack in the wall. "Happy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Blake. 

Blake still glared suspiciously at her. "Yang...how...how did your father describe your mother?"

"The one time I got him talking about her? He said complicated and cranky," Yang said, turning to the Faunus. "Why?"

"I don't detect her Aura," Blake said. "She's been almost like a blank piece of paper. That crack was not there a second ago. Yang--"

"What are you trying to say?" Raven said, glaring Blake down. "That I can't be happy when I'm finally reunited with my daughter?"

Yang stared from Raven to Blake, then said, "How did you get up here?"

"It took a while, but I managed to find a way." 

" _What_ way?"

Raven shrugged helplessly. "Y'know. A way."

Heart sinking, Yang lifted up the armband. "Dimension 97 dash dash 14: Audreyna," the armband intoned in a vaguely feminine voice. Subject designation: Sonas. Subject type: sentient plant. Uses hallucinogenic gasses to lure people in and convert them to its own biomass while their consciences live out their ideal lives. Interacting with Sonas is forbidden unless you have taken at least one dose of the prescribed depressants."

Raven--or Sonas, as its name was--inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "There has never been a language that can describe my hatred for those things."

"Okay," Yang said, "that's a no." Which was when she realized that vines had grown around hers and Blake's legs. 

"I don't think so," the Raven image said. She paced around them. "Trust me. You're going to be happier like this, and I'm going stay alive. All of us are, and all of my previous prey have. It's not death--simply another form of living."

"Let us go!" Yang ordered, tugging at the vines. It tore easy, but grew back quickly. "We don't want this!"

"Everyone says that, but I have yet to meet someone who actually wanted to leave their perfect life," Raven said, clasping her hands behind her back as she paced behind them. A violet flower grew up in front of them, petals unfolding in a dazzling display of beauty. 

"Yang?" Blake said quietly, grabbing Yang's hand.

"This isn't how this is ending," Yang said icily, squeezing Blake's hand back. She fired Ember Celica at the flower, which immediately burst into flames. 

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" screeched Raven. "You're killing me! You're killing all of them! What are you doing?" The air around them burst into flames as Yang ripped the vines free of her and Blake's legs. The vines had actually started growing into their legs, and blood spilled out as she and Blake ran. 

"Being torched is another form of living, bitch!" Yang cried, firing more blasts at the vines and trees in the cell. The two burst out of the cell as it exploded in a huge burst of flame. 

"Not trusting anything or anyone we see here," Yang declared, "starting now."

Blake nodded. "We're getting out. One way or another, we're getting out."


	7. Descent

"Going all the way down?" Jaune said, looking over the edge of the platform before quickly regretting it and covering his mouth. 

"Of course," Ruby said, nodding. "That's the only real direction for your friends to go, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Jaune said, mouth still covered. 

"Don't like the speed, do ya?" Ruby said with a grin. "Oh, I'll remember this."

Weiss looked at her. "Is he not motion sick in your world or something?"

"I can't remember. Since I became half-Grimm, I forget lots of things. But for now, when it comes to my past, let's keep it down to--" She grinned. "Juane and I had a few disagreements."

"Can you explain how the other worlds work?" Pyrrha asked. "I'm still a little spotty on that."

Ruby laughed. "You and me both, redhead."

"It's...Pyrrha."

"Whatever."

"Is there another name we can call you?" Weiss asked. "Because we have our own world's Ruby coming soon, and I don't want things to get confusing."

"You can call me Haunt, if you must," she replied. She grimaced as she peered outside the elevator platform. "I didn't think this place was so big."

"How big did you think it was?" Weiss asked. 

Haunt shrugged. "I dunno. Warehouse sized, I guess."

There was a long silence. "Quite the mastermind, aren't you?" Pyrrha chuckled. 

"Hey! I was busy planning everything else about my great escape, and guessing the size of this building wasn't high on my priorities list," Haunt muttered, glaring the three of them down. "Between designing a computer virus to take down one of the greatest computer systems in the multiverse and having hundreds of volts of electricity shot through my body every second, I've been busy."

There was another silence. "Why were they doing that?" Jaune asked. "Why hurt you so much?"

"Does it have to do with the fact that you're part Grimm?" Pyrrha asked. 

"These specific people did not care too much about that," Haunt replied. "Or at least, it didn't change their reaction to me. But in the multiverse, I have a bit of a...reputation. For scheming and stuff like that. So they decided the way to keep my scheming to a minimum was by electrocuting me. Luckily, I'd done all the scheming I needed to do before getting captured."

"How are you part Grimm?" Weiss asked, grabbing Haunt's hand. "How is that possible?"

Haunt stiffened, but couldn't muscle up the strength to pull her hand away. "I don't want to talk about my past. It's gritty, and painful...and...and..."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Weiss said quickly. Haunt sighed in relief. "Looks like we're nearing the bottom," she said, lifting her arms and stretching. "I reckon more than your two friends came down here, Weiss, so we'll need to be careful."

"Got it," Jaune said. Pyrrha nodded, lifting her weapons. 

"You can't trust anyone simply on virtue of their face," Haunt told him. "I believe they had different reasons for saying this, but doesn't the saying go, 'never trust a pretty face'?"

"I'm sure we can handle it," Weiss said, pulling out her rapier. "We've gotten this far just fine, haven't we?"

Haunt didn't look convinced. Weiss was convinced, however. They could do this.

"This is actually pretty amazing," Roman said, walking around the desk and pulling open a drawer. He searched through it a moment before pulling out an armband. "Executive's armband," he said with a grin. He put it on his wrist, tapping a few buttons and opening up a 3D, holographic schematic of the building. "The company is called Ravensight, and they have one simple job. They go through the boundary between dimensions, and study the inhabitants. Catalog everything, understand everything. Take things from their proper places, research them to oblivion. Contain them."

"Why?" Ruby asked. 

"The book isn't clear on that," Roman said. "It did mention that Ravensight is a splinter group from an organization called 'Ravenwing', but it didn't mention their role. It said that the founder was someone named Rosetta, who wanted to protect people. I'm guessing Ravenwing and Ravensight are both trying to do that how they think it should be done. And according to this armband, Ravensight received a message from a higher up in Ravenwing. Someone called Star." He tapped a button, and the 3D schematic swapped to a hologram of a person in a trenchoat and bowler hat, with a sword and pistol at his side. 

"Is that a guy?" Ruby asked, "or a flat-chested woman?"

"Beats me," Nora replied with a shrug. 

"Okay, look. I know we've had our differences," Star began, holding up his hands. "Wait, is this thing on? Is it? Oh. Okay. Thanks, Maira. I know we've had our differences, but you should know that you did something fairly stupid. You're not going to be able to hold her. She's going to get out, and most of you are going to die. Hand her to us. We'll handle the execution. But when it comes to the Night Haunt, no one is prepared. I have seen her take down entire squads of men, and in half the cases, she doesn't even need to. She is cold and manipulative, and whatever you do, she is going to find some way to get out. You can make your precautions and your plan Bs, but she is going to outsmart you. For once, listen to us on this. We are going to be moving in tomorrow, and if you do not hand the Night Haunt over--assuming you're still alive at that point--we will take her. Granted, you're already on our blacklist, but wouldn't you rather be in a jail cell than a pine coffin? Okay, turn it off now. Wait, was it off? Nope, never mind. Star out."

The recording cut off. 

"Let's get moving," Roman said. "We have a map of the place now, so there won't be any confusion in where we are or where we're going."

He quickly strode from the office, and the three kids followed. 

"Why are you helping us?" Ren asked. 

"Mostly, for Ruby," Roman admitted. "Outside of her, there isn't much motivating me."

"You're going to have fun explaining this all to the rest of them," Ren told Roman.

"Well, Yang already knows. Right, Ruby?"

"Not exactly."

Roman stopped dead in his tracks, shooting a glare at Ruby. "I'm sorry?"

"Well..." Ruby awkwardly poked her fingers together, looking down at the ground. "I tried telling her, one time, but, um, kinda flopped. Chickened out."

"And you decided the course of action was to lie to me?" Roman said flatly. 

"Aren't you a terrorist?" Ruby burst out. "Haven't you lied to a lot of people?"

"I've lied to a lot of people, yeah! But you haven't been one of them!" Roman poked her hard in the chest. "Don't. Don't lie to _me._ " Without another word, he stormed down towards the ladders as he checked the armband. 

"Roman, I'm sorry," Ruby said, moving towards him. "I didn't mean to, I didn't--"

"I forgive you," Roman said. "It helps that I know you didn't do it on purpose--there's no reason for you to deliberately lie about it. I don't think you're that kind of person. Up or down?"

Ruby examined the schematic. "I--there won't be any exits up. So no matter what happens, they'll have gone down. Again, I'm sorry."

"Forget it," Roman said, waving her off. He put one foot on one of the elevators, shoving it hard. "Mm. Seems stable enough, but it'll be kind of crowded with the four of us."

"We can deal," Ren said, stepping in. Once the four of them were in, Roman pushed the double down arrow button. "Not much hope of finding an exit down below, but that's where they would have gone," Ren said. 

As the elevator began moving, Roman spoke. "The thing is, you can't go in this world without trusting people. There's always going to be someone you have to trust. It's all the optional people I have problems with. The ones I have to decide to place my trust in. That's what Neo is for--I found her in a gutter. I'm all she has. She has no one else. So, it's easy for me to trust her. The person I trusted before her was my brother, Norse. When I finally found the bastard again, I put a knife in his back to see how he liked it." He snorted. "Norse could have let me die. Because he didn't, he died. Trust, Ruby. Trust will always screw you over at the worst moment from the faces you least expect it from."

"I'm sorry." 

"I heard you the first time!" Roman said. "Yeesh. Stop apologizing so much. I just wanted to make it clear where the line sits."

"You're a lot more complicated than you seem at first," Ren told Roman. 

"Same for everyone," Roman scoffed. 

"So, why stay a criminal?" Ren said. "If you know this is bad, and you can change..."

"It's more complicated than that, kid," Roman told him. "It has more to do with--" He stopped, looking up. 

A blazing heat filled the air around them, and a figure in armor landed on the railing of their elevator, grabbing hold firmly while holding a flaming broadsword in their spare hand. A massive poof of fire shaped like hair streamed out behind her with her red cloak, and her hands were covered in large gauntlets. Over her face was an eyeless visor. 

"Hello, sister," the figure growled. 

"Yang?" Ruby said, jaw dropping. It was then that Yang ripped the elevator from the ladder, sending them all flying off down the pit. 


	8. Hell's Dues

Yang and Blake were burned and scorched, with numerous cuts and slashes on their legs. Blake had actually lost a pants leg to Sonas, and both walked with a slight limp. Luckily, the other Yang was gone. Blake's Yang wasn't sure what they could take--their Aura was down after one encounter, and she suspected the gases Sonas emitted made people sleepier. She panted, resting half on an empty cell as she looked around. "Clear path," she said, brain foggy. "Let's get...over to the elevators." 

She slammed the call button, then slammed it again when it didn't come up. "Work, damn you!" she snapped, falling to the ground. "Dammit. That Salad Bitch did a number on us. I can barely walk."

"Same here. You think someone else is using the elevator?" After a moment's hesitation, "Salad Bitch? Really?"

"She's a plant, and a bitch. Salad Bitch." She waved it off, adding, "Leave me alone, I'm tired."

"It's not safe enough to sleep," Blake pointed out. 

"Surely resting a minute won't hurt." She closed her eyes, blinking as her vision blurred. Everything cleared up and she focused her gaze on the person standing in front of her. A gray cloak around her shoulders, matching dress and blouse. 

"Pyrrha?" Yang asked, looking up. Half of Pyrrha's face was coated in a pale white, filmy mask that looked similar to a Grimm mask. She also happened to be eating...

A human hand.

Roman grabbed hold of Nora--the person closest to him--and fired off shots at Yang. The bullets bounced off her armor as she grabbed hold of Ruby's cloak as they fell. Ruby slashed at her, and the scythe embedded itself in the armor with a screech. Yang grabbed Ruby the front of her cloak, wrestling with her as the fell. Ren grabbed hold of Ruby, then grabbed hold of the ladder, pulling them to a stop. Roman caught hold of the ladder he and Nora collided with, and Nora grabbed him by his other arm. 

"You're going to get us both killed!" Ruby cried. "Stop! You don't have to do this!"

"Once upon a time, in my world," Yang hissed, swinging her sword, "I told you we could live forever. We would never have to suffer in death. And you--you rejected this gift for the sake of 'the natural order'!" The sword blade bit into Ruby's shoulder, and the smell of burned flesh filled the air. Ruby screamed, and Roman tried--and failed--to shoot Yang. 

Yang slammed Ruby into the ladder, yanking the sword out of her shoulder. Ruby's cloak had actually caught fire in the momentary contact, and she gritted her teeth. "I didn't do anything to you," Ruby pleaded. She kicked Yang, but only succeeded in pulling in pulling her scythe free. "Please, let me be!"

"Not a chance!" Yang growled, lifting the sword again. A white blast shot the sword out of her hand, knocking it down into the pit below them. 

"Neo!" Yang screeched. "I swear, the torture I will put you through--!"

"You'd have to catch me first!" Neo cried, planting a high-heel directly in Yang's visor. She slashed at Ruby's cloak, cutting off the part that Yang was holding on to. Neo flipped off of Yang, landing on the floor by the ladder and beginning to pull Ruby up. 

Roman tossed Nora onto the floor by his own ladder, then followed her and beginning to run across the ring. 

"Ruby!" He slid to the ground beside her, landing on his knees. 

"Yo," Ruby said through gritted teeth. "Oh, this hurts a lot."

Roman pulled the burnt fabric off her shoulders, examining the wound. "Holy fucking shit, this is cauterized! How hot was that thing?" he burst out with. 

"Let me help," Ruby's voice came from behind him. Roman turned to the new Ruby, who wore a suit of white armor and her signature red cloak. She carried a sword at her side, but didn't even have her hand on it. "I have healing magic," she said quickly. "I can help."

Roman gritted his teeth. "Try anything," he warned, standing up and letting the new Ruby through. 

The Ruby in armor nodded, kneeling beside her injured doppelganger. "Call me Cleric, to avoid confusion," she ordered, holding up a hand to the burned shoulder. White light and runes glowed around the burn, and Ruby hissed in pain. "She picked up that enchanted sword many years ago. I'm familiar with its bite...a fact that you were made aware of moments ago, I believe." Cleric sighed. "I must apologize. You appear to have gotten hurt as punishment for my actions."

"Apology accepted," Roman said with a nod. 

Neo peered over the edge. "She's not coming back up," she stated. "Must have been--or hell, still is--a bloody long fall."

"You from her world?" Ren asked, standing up and dusting himself off. 

"While I am still unsure of how it all works, yes. That is mine own half-sister." Cleric lowered her hands, disappearing. "My magic has never been potent, and I did the best I could. I hope it was enough." 

"You dulled the pain, so that's something," Ruby chuckled, shrugging. She immediately regretted that, clutching her shoulder and gasping. "Ay ay ay ay."

Roman picked up Crescent Rose, then helped her to her feet. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah. It was my shoulder, not my leg." She paused, taking the scythe in her good arm. "Of all the times to be left-handed," she muttered, clumsily stowing the weapon on her back. 

"That was probably a choice on Yang's part," Cleric stated. "She and I have had our fair share of fights."

"I stabbed her in the chest," Ruby whispered. "She didn't even flinch."

"She's an undead. She gave up pain long ago," Cleric said, looking away. Seeing their confused faces, Neo asked, "What, have you not seen undead before? Do you not have them in your world?"

"Er, in our world-- _this_ world--it's just fantasy," Nora pointed out. "Y'know. Books read for fun. All those ones about zombies and skeletons, and vampires..."

"I don't like vampire novels," Ren said, frowning.

"Neither do I," Nora admitted. 

"What is an undead? In your sense of the word?" Roman asked Cleric. 

"To sum up what _Yang_ is, she is a Hell Knight. In order to achieve immortality, she consciously chose to do something she knew was evil." Cleric nodded to Neo. "She wanted to sacrifice her to the Dark One. I told her we shouldn't. That's where two years of fighting have come from."

"What can she do, though?" Roman asked, tapping the armband and bringing up the building schematics again. 

"She's a skeleton. She can raise the dead with necromancy, and she's in a constant state of fire. The sword is on fire. Poking her will burn the skin off your hand _and_ your back. Oh, and she can use the sword to travel to places she frequents." Cleric considered that, then nodded. "That's about it."

"Not too bad, then," Roman muttered. "I officially don't trust the elevators, and with Ruby hurt, we can't take the ladders."

"I can too!" Ruby said, pursing her lips. She winced, rubbing her shoulder. "Okay. Nevermind."

"There is a staircase to the bottom floor," Roman said, scrolling along. "That is where we'll find Weiss and crew, if the security cameras were accurate. Now, up here--" He scrolled up to the top. "Two employee armbands are active. Either those are Ravensight employees, or people like me who decided the armbands would be good to have. On the off chance that it's Yang and Blake, we'll want to pass them by on our way back up."

"You looking for your friends?" Cleric asked. "Does that mean you already have a way out?"

"Door's open," Roman commented, pointing up. "If you want to leave, go for it. We can handle our affairs on our own."

"What? Don't we need to help them fight Yang?" Neo asked, pointing down the pit. 

"I have enough trouble keeping you safe when it's just undead I have to worry about," Cleric said, grabbing her firmly by the arm and towing her towards the ladder. "No, love, we are leaving now. Be careful with Yang, Maj--Roman. She is wily, and I doubt she's going to give up easy. I wish you luck. Farewell."

Roman peeked down a hallway in-between cells, towards a door. "Did she start to call me 'majesty'?" he asked. "Damn, that seems like a fun dimension." He wrapped his spare arm around Ruby. "You alright?"

"Hurts like...well, I was about to say hell, but, that's all fire anyway, and she was a _Hell_ Knight. So, that analogy is kinda fucked." Ruby sighed. "I dunno. I'm tired."

"It's a bad end to a long day," Roman agreed. "C'mon. Let's find your team, then get out of here."

"You alright?" Yang opened her eyes to find the other Pyrrha staring down at her. "You passed out for a minute there."

Yang scooted away from her, pointing the gun in her face. "Back off! Watch it!"

Pyrrha sat down, holding up her hands. "Now, I mean no harm or ill intent. I was concerned, you seemed hurt."

" _You were eating a motherfucking hand!"_

Pyrrha sighed as Blake's gun was put up to her head. "If you could only eat beef to gain your nutrients and live, you'd damn well eat cows. I am not a murder--I do what I have to to live, but I have not sought out and killed anyone with the purpose of eating them. Only people who were already dead--and at that point, it hardly matters to them, doesn't it?"

Yang and Blake shared a look. 

"I came over to see if you needed help," Pyrrha commented. "If you don't, I can be on my way just like that." She snapped her fingers. "If you would like help, I am fully capable of giving it." 

Blake held up her wrist, and the armband beeped. "Dimension 13 dash dash 71: Ishida. Subject type: ghoul, class 7."

"Ouch," Pyrrha muttered. "I'd like to think I'm a little tougher than that..."

"Enhanced physical characteristics and senses. Deemed intelligent, but doesn't speak. Possibly mute, though nothing physically prevents her from speaking. Subject was not in her original dimension when found--further study needed."

Yang waited, then said, "Is that it?"

"Well, when you leave out my magnetic personality, there isn't much else," Pyrrha admitted with a shrug. "Besides, I was only caught yesterday."

"We are heading out," Yang told her firmly. "And you are not going to follow us."

"Problem with that is, I'm also heading out," Pyrrha said, standing up. If she was bothered by the gun Blake pointed at her as the couple stood as well, she didn't show it. "I happen to be looking for someone, whom I know is heading out. I plan on heading her off at the exit."

Yang slid over to the next elevator, pressing the call button. Nothing came up. 

"I tried them all on my way over here. None of them work. One started up, but fell straight down as the lights went off." She gestured towards the four separate ladders. "My guess is whatever broke their systems and made them all disappear also took down the elevators."

Yang gritted her teeth, looking at Blake. "What do we do? She's going to be moving with us."

"Not everything here is going to try and kill us. It might be better to have her on our side," Blake said. "We need to play it carefully, because--"

"She _did_ eat some--" Yang stopped, then pointed an accusatory finger at Pyrrha. "You said you didn't hunt down people just to eat them."

"The hand was from one of the clones produced by Ravensight," Pyrrha replied simply, most likely having heard their entire conversation. "They barely think and he was trying to kill me. And no, I didn't hunt him down, it was in self-defense."

"Did you have to kill him?" Blake asked, eyes narrowing. 

"Potentially, no," Pyrrha replied. "But it was a _clone._ Wasn't even a real person. Didn't have the brain power for anything other than following orders. They can't speak or think for themselves. They're grown with just enough brain cells to comprehend orders. I knew he wasn't going to stop trying to kill me, so I killed him. And yes, I ate him, because I was starving, and I'd like to see you fare better under my circumstances."

"I guess that's fair," Blake told Yang. 

"I don't have time for this. Follow if you want help or to work together, but I need to get moving if I want to beat her to the exit." She jumped and began climbing down the ladder. Blake and Yang shared a look, then Yang nodded. "If we need to, we can probably take her." She began moving down the ladder. Sighing, Blake followed. 

_This is some messed up shit we're in,_ she thought grimly. 


	9. The Demon's Glare

"Bottom floor, just in time," Haunt said, propping herself up on the platform's railing. "My virus must have finally taken them out."

Another elevator crashed to the ground behind her, bouncing into the air once before spinning and coming to a stop. Haunt began walking again, unfazed. "Come on," she said, waving them forward. 

"You good now?" Weiss asked.

"Hmm?"

"You couldn't walk before, and now you seem fine."

"Yes, yes, I recover quickly," Haunt said, waving her off. "Before we head on to the exit, there is one little place I want to check out." She moved down the corridor, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune following. 

"What happened to the people here?" Jaune asked. "They're all gone."

"Presumably, the moment shit started going down, they left," Haunt snorted. "I am not one to complain, Juane."

"Jaune. I am Jaune, that is Pyrrha."

Again, Haunt simply waved him off. "Whatever. I doubt I'll ever be seeing you again anyways." She came to a thick vault door, then moved over to the keypad. "Lessee...what did he say...it was...six four...six two..." She clicked her tongue a few times, then a look of triumph came over her face. "Seven three! Booyah." She waved them all through. "It'll close after we go through, but there's a keypad on both sides," she declared. 

Weiss stepped inside, followed by Pyrrha and Jaune. True to her word, the door shut behind the Haunt, and she looked around the shelves. "Help me find shelf 7-12," she said, looking around. "Luckily, it starts way back here. This one's six-forty."

"Here it is!" Pyrrha called out, tapping on the metal shelf. 

Haunt ran past her, moving down the shelf's length. "C'mon, c'mon. Where did you bastards put it..." With a cry of triumph, she pulled a jagged, crystalline blade off the shelf, giving it a test swing. She rummaged across the shelf, shoving other weapons to the floor. She began putting things of bullets in her pockets, then her face fell. She threw everything off the shelves, crying in rage. "Where is it?" she snarled. She stepped back, looking at the scattered equipment on the floor. She fell to her knees, shoving the weapons aside. "No, no, no! They--they--" She blinked, defeat flashing over her face. 

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked, falling beside her. Weiss and Jaune sat beside her, as the Haunt shook. 

"The bullets. The special Dust, that I--I can't get more of that. I need that Dust. They must have--" She gritted her teeth, standing up. "Research and Development. They must have taken it there." She stumbled forward, leaning against the shelf, which clattered loudly. 

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my bullets back. I need as many as I can get," Haunt actually fell down this time, groaning. Weiss stepped forward, picking her up. "If it's that important," she said, carrying her. 

Haunt relaxed in Weiss's arms, smiling. "My hero," she grinned. 

"Stop it," Weiss said firmly. "Pyrrha, can you get that door?" 

Pyrrha gave the door a shove. It opened without a problem, and she blitzed into the next room, weapons out. Jaune followed, then Weiss and Haunt. 

It was a sterile white room, with multiple conveyors full of various items, some obviously weapons, most less so. Weiss set Haunt down on a chair, then looked around. "What does this Dust look like?"

"Red and shiny," Haunt said. "All jagged, y'know? Like broken glass. The bullet case is red, with an eye insignia on it. Same symbol that's on my sleeve." She paused, then reached over and grabbed a Grimm mask off the table in front of her. "Hello there," she muttered. "That's where they put it." She put the mask over her face. It was pale white, with a single eyehole in the center of her face, and three red lines on each cheek and on the sides of the eyehole. "This thing is bloody annoying to get another of." She set it down on the desk in front of her, pulling open the computer that Weiss hadn't noticed. As Pyrrha and Jaune began searching the conveyors, Weiss moved closer to Haunt. 

Haunt flicked her eyes to her, then returned her gaze to the computer. "What?" Weiss asked, frowning. "Something wrong."

"I'm trying to figure out where they put my bullets," Haunt told her, "and you're being distracting."

"How am I being distracting?" Weiss sat on the desk, raising an eyebrow at Haunt. Haunt refused to look at Weiss, but faintly blushed. 

"Oh. In your world, were we...a thing?"

"Not until we left," the Haunt sighed. "Officially, anyway. We weren't together for long, but..." She pulled a small ring out of her pocket, spinning it around. 

"I--I'm sorry."

"You're not dead," Haunt said. "But I've spent almost ten years trying to get you back. I've been through and deserved hell on this journey, and now that I'm _close..._ " She clenched her fist around the ring, closing her eyes. "Some things are worth the sin," she said quietly. 

A chill ran through Weiss as the Haunt began typing on the computer. She looked back around the room, then her eyes rested on a small red case. She jumped off the desk, moving over to another desk. A suit of armor with a damaged red cloak around its shoulders sat behind it, but Weiss was more focused on the case. "Found them!" she declared, reaching for the bullets. The suit of armor picked up the cartridge, folding one leg over the other as she examined the case. "Interesting," it said in Yang's voice. 

"So..." Yang considered how to ask her question, and, deciding there was no polite way to phrase it, just went for it. "Were you always a cannibal, or did something happen to make you one?"

Pyrrha jumped off the lander, landing on the ring around the pit. Blake and Yang followed as Pyrrha panted, leaning against an empty cell. A large wolf like monster glared at her from a nearby cell, letting loose a low snarl. Pyrrha banged a fist against its cell, and the wolf backed away, whining. "I am a ghoul," she declared. "This is how I was born. Believe me, I wish the thing I could only eat couldn't tell me to F off, but here we are. Nothing happened to make me like this."

"Ah," Yang said, leaning against the railing by Blake. She reached down, rubbing her legs. 

"What happened to you two?" Pyrrha asked. 

"Salad Bitch," Yang declared. 

"W-what?"

"Hallucinogenic plant monster that wanted to convert us into its own biomass," Blake explained. "Yang set it on fire."

"I'd have liked to see you come up with a better idea!" Yang snapped, glaring her girlfriend down. 

"I wasn't berating--your thinking saved us back there." She smiled. "I'll need to pay you back sometime."

"You can pay for our dinner next date night," Yang grinned. She then noticed Pyrrha's longing face. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Who said something's wrong? I didn't--fuck." She clapped a hand to her face. "I--I can't do words."

"No one can," Blake said consolingly. "You don't have to say what it is if you don't want to."

"...Back in my world, I had my eyes on a girl of my own," Pyrrha said slowly. "But it's been a while. And she's even several years older than me now..."

"Wouldn't she have been before?" Yang asked, scratching her head. 

"I got trapped in the void between dimensions," she said flatly. "Time works sporadically on or off, and randomly speeds up, so when it was all said and done and I finally got out, I was six years out of sync. And of course I could have gone back...but I felt...Velvet would have moved on, wouldn't she? That's why I joined Ravenwing. Because I was too scared to go home."

"Ravenwing?" Yang asked. 

"Oh, you don't know what they are. Do you know what this lab is?"

"Ravensight."

"Yes, well, I work for Ravenwing. Shortened down, they're inter-dimensional police. Our job is to handle problems caused by people hopping between dimensions. Such as Ravensight, but that wasn't my job today."

"You were after the Night Haunt," Blake guessed. 

Pyrrha snapped her attention towards Blake. "You know her?"

"We saw her in her cell just a short while ago," Yang nodded. "And we read a researcher's note on her. Talking about how dangerous she was, and that Ravenwing had never managed to catch her."

Pyrrha stood, stretching and moving over towards the ladder. "She is dangerous. I've never actually met her, but a few buddies from work have fought her. She's clever, wily." She paused as Blake and Yang moved onto the ladder as well. "Technically, its our own fault that she got this dangerous. She got turned into a Grimm in her world, and things apparently escalated from there. Getting worse and worse. Eventually, Ravenwing looks over. Not Ravenwing, actually, but Goldenclaw--they were, uh, how to describe it. Police uphold the laws, right? Well, while Ravenwing does that, Goldenclaw were to play heroes. Be the good guys, do the right thing. It was a new thing they were trying, so they stepped in...to stop and apprehend the Night Haunt. Eventually, they caught her team while she was in the middle of fighting. The Night Haunt went ballistic after that. Waged a one-woman war for ten straight years, and won. Goldenclaw was dismissed after she killed one of the three founders. I talked to one of the other three--Roman something. When I asked about the 'Haunt, he said that she 'had him and his buddies hanging themselves by their own puppet strings'."

"Who were the three founders?" Yang asked. "Any names I'd know?'

"I just mentioned Roman. Ozpin was the one who died. Then, of course, the Silver Reaper, and she's...uh...terrifying. Her name is Summer Rose, I believe. I met the Summer in my world--a good enough person, I suppose, but a bit misguided. Which...actually, that describes the Reaper, too."

"Who am I in your world?" Blake asked. 

"You, I never met," Pyrrha admitted. "Yang happens to be one of the cruelest, racist, and sadistic people I've ever known. And the Yang I met in the Void was about as bad--just a little more sympathetic."

"Not looking good for the 'mes' out there, eh?" Yang chuckled. "I actually met another 'me' here. One in armor."

"Well, let's hope it's nice and simple on our way out," Pyrrha said. 

"Then you shouldn't have said that," Blake pointed out.

"Perhaps. We'll see how it goes."


	10. Dark Designs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a Discord channel now...I guess. Message me if you want to talk or ask questions! I am new to Discord, so I am trying to figure things out with it.  
> https://discord.gg/EqNK2H

"Put that down," Haunt said, rising and stretching out a hand. "Do you even know what those are?"

"I know how to use a gun," the armor said, the visor turning to focus on Haunt. 

"You're...a Yang?" Pyrrha said. "Can you give that back? It belongs to her."

"Now, that's the fun part about this," Yang said, wagging a finger as she crossed her legs. "This is foul, black magic. A hint of necromancy, a touch of Hell. I really wonder what these bullets do."

"Give em here and I'll show you," Haunt growled. 

"Or, I could do this." Bullet casings flew out of her gauntlets with clinking metal, and she loaded the red Dust bullets in. Her gauntlets crackled with lightning, and she shuddered. "Ooh, that is some dark magic."

"I knew that already," Haunt growled, drawing her sword.

"But you probably never paid attention to the craft, did you? You can tell lot about a creator by how he does his work," Yang said, rubbing the gauntlets. "Lovingly created, but handled roughly. Whatever their original purpose was, they didn't fulfill it."

"They're just bullets made from Dust!" Haunt growled. "And they fulfilled their purpose exactly--I should know, _I_ built them."

"You built bullets, not...the Dust, you called it?" She waved Haunt off. "That Dust was created by a god with regrets."

"Last chance," Haunt growled. 

Yang rose, then slammed one hand into the ground. Cracks split through the floor, across the room, and flashed eerie red light into the room. "You can never completely destroy souls, Rose," she declared slowly. "God-forged bullets or no. They persist, cause they're stubborn. Even if they're not whole, even if they're not in their intended form. Souls will hunt and grasp and take until they are whole once again. And I am going to use these bullets to make myself whole again, and then some."

Before Haunt could reply, hands rose from the cracks, followed by bodies. Each form was mostly see-through, and consisted of translucent, tattered robes, and carried a long xiphos, like what Pyrrha used. Each one's cloak covered their face, and nothing but shadow was visible beneath the cloak. 

"These are the souls of every scientist in this building," Yang said. "Every one of them, you killed with this Dust. Sprinkling a poison into their food...so clever. They were more worried about their machines than your poison. Until their bodies crumbled into dust in front of their eyes."

Haunt breathed in and out for a long moment. "I"m not getting my bullets back, am I?" she asked. 

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

The Haunt dispersed into a cloud of rose petals, which rushed out the door behind them before anything further can be said. 

"Wha--she just left us!" Weiss gasped. 

"Oh, no," Jaune muttered, pulling his weapon out. The shadows all turned and focused on the three who remained as Yang stomped forward, armor clinking. 

"You three really haven't done anything to me," she admitted. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to die anyway. I need some more...corporeal undead."

Two black birds soared through the air, then fluttered to the ground. Raven hit in a roll, quickly running towards the warehouse. "This is it," she said. She could vaguely feel her connection to Yang, but...something was off. She knew Yang was in there. That was enough for her.

She skidded to a stop, seeing a figure in white armor seated on a bench outside the front door. She sharpened a pale sword, with a white staff beside her, white cloak fluttering behind her. A mask covered her face, and while the figure looked familiar, Raven didn't recognize her. 

"Who are you?" Raven demanded. 

"None of your business, and you are none of mine," the woman answered with a snort. "Go in or don't, I don't care. You are not who I am waiting for."

Raven glared her down, but the figure genuinely did not appear interested in her in the slightest. Raven stepped past her, moving into the building and feeling her connection with everyone outside it end. "I can't Semblance out," she said, "or Semblance to Yang." Qrow stepped past her, peering through one of the two open doorways. "That's just an office. I assume they went through that door." 

"Holy hell," Raven breathed, seeing the inside. "Come on. This might be a while."

"We have to go back and help them!" Neo said, pointing back. She resisted, tugging at Cleric's hand. 

"If I had to tell your father that I brought you back into danger," Cleric said, dragging Neo towards the ladders, "he'd kill me. And he's done so once already, so I know for a fact that he wouldn't hesitate."

"Doesn't he want me to be the best ruler I can be?" Neo demanded, grabbing hold of a railing, and refusing to go up the ladder. "And don't good rulers work hard to save people?"

"The only good rulers are the ones who survived long enough to actually be rulers." Cleric didn't let go, but stopped in her tracks. "We need to leave. They'll have to protect themselves. We'll have to protect ourselves."

"You're really not going to budge on this?" Neo whispered. "They could die."

"And so could you!" Cleric snapped. She breathed in hard, then breathed out. "I can't lose you, Neo."

"You're already close to losing me right now," Neo stated. Cleric blinked, slowly letting go of Neo's hand. "I--" Neo grabbed both of Cleric's hands, clasping them in front of her. "Father hates you for who you were. I love you for who you could be." She leaned in close...

 _Thunk._ "Finally! The bottom!" Cleric spun around, hand on her sword as she faced a young blonde woman. A black haired one landed beside her, and a redhead after her. "Fucking finally. Now we can get out!"

Pyrrha, Blake, and Yang turned to face Ruby and Neo. Ruby narrowed her eyes at Yang. 

"Um..." Yang cautiously cocked her guns. She sighed. "I don't want a fight, but if you start it, I'm finishing it."

"I don't _want_ a fight either, but seeing how eager you are worries me about turning my back," Cleric growled. 

"Girls, girls. I get it, you hate each other even though neither of you know the other," a new voice said. Stepping out of the side corridor, a Ruby in a white Grimm mask hefted her sword on top of her shoulders. 

"Night Haunt," Pyrrha gasped. 

"Oh, look, a fan," the Haunt muttered. She turned back to Yang and Cleric. "If you two want to fight, go ahead. I don't care. But would you guys mind waiting until I get past?"

"What the hell are you?" gasped Cleric. 

"Rude," the Haunt muttered. 

Pyrrha stepped in front of everyone else, then pulled out a badge. "You are under arrest."

The Haunt stared at her for a full thirty seconds before speaking. "The f'ck are you?"


	11. Play Hero

"You're Ravenwing, aren't you?" the Haunt said, removing her mask and rubbing her face. "Of course you are. Things can't be _simple,_ can they?" She rubbed her shoulder, sighing. "If you want to get out of here, we actually want to work together. Double the chance of leaving alive."

"Ravenwing is coming. I let myself get caught so I could stop you from leaving," Pyrrha said. 

Haunt shrugged. "You're funeral." She put her mask back on, cracked her neck, then lunged. Pyrrha ducked beneath the swing as Haunt pirouetted on one foot. Pyrrha swung a punch, and the Haunt blocked with her sword. As a surprise to the latter, she slid backwards, hitting her back against the wall. Neo jumped in, jabbing at her with a rapier. Haunt parried her attacks as she twisted around Pyrrha's attack. Haunt leapt on top of Pyrrha's arm, kicking Neo back and spinning her leg into Pyrrha's face. Both stumbled away from her as Cleric examined the empty space to her right. "Gods dammit, Neo!" 

Haunt attacked the young girl, who blocked with the rapier. She slid back, eyes wide as she found herself staring down the mask. "I don't even know what _you're_ thinking," the Haunt growled. Pyrrha lunged, but the Haunt flipped into the air, balancing on top of her sword, which rested against Neo's blade. The Haunt landed on the ground and kicked Neo at Pyrrha. Pyrrha caught her, spun her to the side, then lunged in, grappling with the Haunt. Neo moved in, but Cleric grabbed her by the hand. "We can't fight two demons at once," she said pointedly. "If we're fighting any at all, we need to go where we're needed."

"One place at a time," Neo said, slipping from the other's grasp. She jabbed at Haunt, who backed off, warily watching the two of them. 

Cleric sighed, drawing her sword. "I hate you so much."

"You love me, and we both know it," Neo smiled smugly. Her smile stopped when the Haunt's started. 

The Haunt lunged, slashing for Neo as she weaved around the rapier. Cleric brought up her sword just in time to save Neo. "Back off! Disengage!" she ordered. 

"But--"

" _Now!"_ she snarled, baring her teeth at Neo. Neo stepped back, as Cleric shoved the Haunt back. The two lunged at each other, each one moving at a blur as their swords sparked off each other. 

"Let's leave now," Yang said, grabbing Blake's hand. "This really doesn't involve us, and besides, it looks like they've got it covered. Let's just get out while we can."

"They must all be worried sick by now..." Blake said, looking back over her shoulder. Cleric glowed brightly, rising off the ground as the Haunt was knocked backwards off her feet. A wave of _energy--_ pure magical _force--_ pulsed through the room. 

"They have it handled," Yang said simply. 

"Hey, hey, hey. Let's not be hasty," the Haunt said, backing off, fumbling for her weapon. "I sense your Aura. You're no closer to _them_ than I am. We're really on the same side here, aren't we?"

"Being a monster doesn't change which side I'm on," Cleric said, pointing her sword at the Haunt's face. 

The mask fell off, having been damaged in the fight. It shattered on the ground, and Haunt sighed. "Truest damn thing I've ever heard," she said, shaking her head. She burst into a cloud of rose petals, dispersing around the room. 

"She ran," Cleric said, sheathing her sword. Which was when the Haunt reappeared behind Neo, pointing the gun at her head. Cleric jumped, throwing Neo aside, as the Haunt swapped the gun into a sword, skewering Cleric through the chest. 

"Ruby!" Neo shrieked. 

"Works every time," the Haunt chuckled. "Play the hero--" She shoved the sword up to the hilt in Cleric's chest. "--die a martyr." 

Cleric grabbed Haunt by the wrist, then twisted it to the snapping of bones. She firmly booted the Haunt away as the Haunt grasped at her with a scream of pain. The Haunt flung away, clutching one of Cleric's gauntlets. She dropped it, clutching her wrist. Cleric casually pulled the sword out of her stomach, then shattered it over her leg, giving Yang a chance to see her skeletal hand. The wound she had also wasn't bleeding. 

"Holy fucking gods!" gasped the Haunt. "I wish I had known that ten seconds ago." She rubbed her wrist. "Damn, you just snapped it."

Cleric shot her a glare. "You just tried to kill me by targeting the love of my life," she said. 

The Haunt slipped her good hand into a pocket. "Oh. I...I'll run now. I know exactly how much shit I'm in now..."

"Stop her!" cried Pyrrha. But the Haunt leapt onto a ladder, then flipped everyone off with her bad hand while grabbing hold with her good one. "Ravenwing? Coming? Fat chance. If this building still exists by the time they get here, I'll be loooong gone!"

"Caw caw!"

"Birds?" Yang asked, frowning. A raven flew through the air above the Haunt's head. It flew around the ladder, and a woman in red jumped around, grabbing the Haunt and pulling her down, slamming her into the ground. 

Qrow landed beside Raven, looking down at the Grimm ruby. "Some sort of shape-shifting Grimm?" Raven speculated, then looked up at the room. "Good gods. What the fuck is going on?"

Cleric backed away. "Thank the gods you're alright, Yang," Qrow muttered. 

"No no!" Yang said, stepping away and holding up a hand. "No more of this horrible places tricks! This is another horrible plant monster, or you're just another Qrow Mom. Not the ones I know. Or know of, I never met _her._ "

"Good for you," Cleric muttered. 

"We're here to help," Raven said, putting her knee in-between Haunt's shoulders. She looked down at Yang. "I'm not here to say sorry or some shit like that. I'm here to save your sorry ass."

"...somehow, I think that's her," Yang said, slouching. Just then they were interrupted by a scream. 

"That sounded like Weiss," Yang said. The building shook as an explosion was set off. 

"I told you the building would be gone," the Haunt said. "With a necromancer-bitch-lord on a power trip while using soul-destroying magic bullets, the buildings gonna go down eventually."

"Yang," Cleric hissed. 

"What do you need?" Yang said. 

"I--are you--" She slapped her skeletal hand to her face. "You know what I meant."


	12. The Losing Side

"They're not dying!" Jaune burst out, the wraith fading away from his sword. The figure reappeared back close to Yang, who let out a scoff. "They're already dead, Sir Arc. What exactly did you expect a non-magical weapon to do?" Yang strode towards them, the wraiths backing her up. 

"What do we do?" Weiss said, thinking frantically. The wraiths had even blocked off their escape path. 

_We got tricked. Haunt suckered us into carrying her around, and discarded us once we were no longer useful._ She gritted her teeth, glaring Yang down. _But I'll be damned if I'm going to let that broken corpse--this pale imitation of Yang Xiao Long--kill me._

"You're not Yang," Weiss snapped. 

"Hmm? Surprising, to say the least."

"Yang is kindhearted and brave. She would never corner and kill people that had done her no wrong. She protects her family and friends. You--you're just a monster."

Yang laughed. The hollow sound echoed around the room, and she rolled her head back, slapping her thigh. "Naive, aren't you? With your ideals and truths and honor. Quite unlike the Weiss in my world, despite her best efforts." She shook her head, and the eyeless visor stared Weiss down. "In my world, I _am_ Yang Xiao Long. I suffered and suffered to an abusive mother after my first parents died. Ruby abandoned me, leaving me to suffer and die alone for the sake of someone she hadn't known until the day before. Yang Xiao Long is hardened. A veteran. A survivor."

"Perhaps not that last one," Weiss said icily. 

There was a stunned silence. Even the wraiths hesitated in their advance, looking to see how Yang would respond. 

"When you--when you find a way to become truly immortal--without having ever died--and have never lost in combat-- _then_ you may mock my death," she said stonily. She tossed a red Dust bullet into the air, catching it. "Now let's see if this is as powerful as I need it to be." She crushed it, and a red glow appeared around her fist. She stretched her hand out to the three of them. Pyrrha threw out one hand, and Yang's hand twisted to the side. Yang stared, pulling her arm. Pyrrha struggled, keeping her balance as Yang slowly out-muscled Pyrrha's Semblance and clenched her hand into a fist. 

"Interesting," she said. "I might want you alive, just to see if I can't make your Undead keep that magic of yours."

Weiss created a glyph in front of herself, then fired ice Dust at Yang. Most of it evaporated upon contact with her, but she was still knocked backwards. Weiss spun and burst fire Dust at the Wraiths. She was greatly relieved when this worked, and she lead Jaune and Pyrrha out of the room. 

"I tried shoving the wraiths back, but there's no metal!" Pyrrha said. "My weapon definitely connected with them, so they are real. But that's not metal."

"They're the souls of the people who died here, right?" Jaune said. "So they're probably made of Aura. Eventually, they'd probably go away if we kept getting rid of them, but we'd be overwhelmed rapidly--"

He rammed face-first into Ruby Rose. The two fell to the ground in a heap. 

"There you guys are!" Nora cried. 

"Torchwick!" Weiss cried. 

"Wait! He's on our side!" Ruby cried, holding up a hand and jumping up. "We're cool! We're...ah, ah, ooooow." She rubbed her shoulder, where a nasty burn mark sat. "Boy, I could go the rest of my life without seeing that horrible knight lady."

The wraiths immediately appeared through the walls as the Hell Knight strode down towards them. 

"Why did you say anything?" Roman asked, pulling his cane out. 

"Because I'm an idiot," Ruby sighed, pulling out Crescent Rose with her good arm. "Look, she wasn't too tough when we fought her earlier. Err, like five minutes ago, actually."

"Wait a minute--she's a skeleton!" Nora grinned, hefting Magnhild. "Your scythe didn't do any damage cuz you didn't hit any bones. But now it's hammer time!" She rushed forward, through the wraiths. Ruby and Pyrrha sniped the wraiths that got too close to her, and she swung her hammer, using the launcher to swing faster at Yang. Yang blocked with her sword, and the two slid away from each other. 

"A good spirit on you," Yang commented idly. "In my world, you're the head of the army. And no reckless fool, either." She lifted her hand, the red Dust orbiting her wrist. 

Nora began backing off, but found herself yanked away at speed by a grappling hook. Roman pulled her up to her feet, returning his cane to its original mode. "Let's not die today, shall we?" he commented, popping a cigar into his mouth. He took a few steps forward, examining the wraiths. "Ooh. These look like half-decent lackeys. Probably do everything you say without thinking. I wonder what the catch is."

"Catch?" Yang growled, pointing her blade at him. 

Roman casually struck the first wraith, and nodded as it appeared a good distance away from him. "Ooh, immortal, too."

"You sure he's on our side? Cuz it seems he's complimenting the enemy," Weiss pointed out. 

Ruby grinned. "Romeo told me to never walk into a bad situation without a plan. He's got something clever up his sleeves, and we are going to back him up like he's expecting us too."

Weiss nodded, then, "What do you mean, 'Romeo'?"

" _Frik._ I'll explain later. Just follow his lead for now."

Weiss nodded. She didn't, and wouldn't, trust Roman. But she trusted Ruby Rose--and this was _her_ Ruby. 

_Was it a different Roman?_

Roman did seem confident. As confident as he was whenever they went after him, all the many times Ruby had just narrowly failed to catch him...

_Oh._

_OH._

Roman spun his cane around, examining the nearby wraiths. After he took down the first two, the rest hung back. 

"What are you planning, you mad fool?" Yang growled. 

"What are you planning, actually?" Roman asked, waving his cigar at her. "Cuz I'm frankly surprised that, with you're big army of--what are these?"

"The souls of the people who died here," Jaune said. "That's what she said, anyway."

Roman chuckled. "Did she, now?"

"I--"

Roman tapped his wristband, spinning around with his cloak flaring. "Whatever else you have to say about this Ravensight place, let it never be said they weren't thorough. They made sure they could always contain everything they caught. Including you. And they wrote this stuff down. On..." 

"Dimension 67 dash dash 32: Alloran," the wristband recited in a computerized, vaguely feminine voice. "Subject type: undead/demon, subtype local designation: Hell Knight. A mortal human who, in a bargain with a local demonic entity, committed an act she thought was sinful and evil, and was given an undying form and magical powers. Subject is always ablaze, and the sword will always return to her, no matter the precautionary measures taken. Subject is capable of raising dead, but requires corpses to do this easily. Without corpses, subject must dominate the souls of the recently deceased. These local designation: wraiths will slowly fade over the time they've been summoned before passing on to their respective afterlives. Subject is able to dominate up to {insert limit here} wraiths at a time, but is still limited by a human mind, and cannot control them all at once and must individually control them. This has been deemed a skill that she has not yet learned yet." 

Roman turned it off, smiling. "We aren't overwhelmed at all. We're fighting one or two wraiths at a time, and none of them can actually finish us off. One on one, I wouldn't like my chances, but like this--" He clucked his tongue, wagging a finger at her. "If you're gonna fake the numbers advantage, sweetie, give them reason to surrender so you don't have to force a fight. Without numbers advantage, you're nothing."

Slowly, one at a time, the wraiths disappeared. Roman smiled, tapping his cane against the ground as Yang lowered her sword. "Now, really, neither of us should have any reason to hate each other. So, let's go our own separate ways, shall we?"

Yang clenched her fists. "You don't know hate," she spat with enough venom to kill a man. "Don't speak to me of reasons and hate. You-- _you--_ " She shook, armor rattling. "I don't need numbers! I'm going to _fucking end you, you son of a bitch!"_

With a scream of rage, she charged forward. Roman popped a cigar into his mouth as she closed in. Yang stumbled from a gunshot, missing as Ruby passed her, firing more shots into her. Each bullet steamed and froze her, and she screamed in rage. More gunfire from Ren steamed and froze her, and Nora fired a grenade loaded with ice Dust. 

This time the scream was in pain. 

"Hey, ice actually works," Roman commented, then slammed his cane into her stomach and then her jaw. The visor flung off, clanging against the ground, and Roman reeled back in surprise, seeing a burnt, charcoal skull in the helmet. She hissed at him, teeth clenching as two sockets-- _two burning eyes--_ glared him down. Jaune jumped in front of her weapon, blocking with his shield. The sword clanged against it, and his Aura flashed white. 

The weapon clash rang out, and the sword actually bounced off. Pyrrha and Ren ran around Yang, striking and spinning her around. As she spun, Weiss pirouetted, stabbing her rapier into the ground, encasing Yang in a glacier. Roman stepped over to her. "You'll thaw out, and then can go on your own way," he said. "And for the record--" He tapped his cane against her skull, clicking out an empty bullet casing. "If I had the slightest idea how to make you stay dead, _I would._ Don't mess with my girl, got it?"

Yang didn't say anything, but Roman backed off. "Come on. Let's go see if anyone's gone out the secondary exit yet. If not, then we can guarantee that Yang and Blake are still in here." He strode away from her, and Weiss picked up the discarded visor. With some hesitation, she stepped over and put the visor over Yang's skull. "There's no reason for the animosity. So what if your Ruby was a jerk? We didn't do anything to you. Let us be."

Yang relaxed in the glacier, looking away in defeat. 

"And for the record," Ruby added, "her first response was to heal my burn injury, yours was to cause it. I think you are the one who was the jerk, just for the record."

Yang immediately clenched a hand into a fist. "Oh, so _I'm_ the bad guy now? Despite the fact that she was in on that plan until it inconvenienced her?" She flared up, glowing bright and the glacier shattered. Steam and ice chunks filled the room, and Weiss screamed. 

"Weiss!" Ruby called, pulling up her gun. 

"I'm not going to stay on the losing side," Yang's voice hissed. She held up Weiss, her hand fitting around the small girl's head. The red Dust continued to orbit, and Weiss whimpered in pain, clutching at the gauntlet, which was clearly burning hot. 

"Put her down," Roman said, pointing his cane at her. 

"No. This time, Tyrant King, _I_ win."


	13. Demon Rising

The Hell Knight lifted Weiss up, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Weiss clutched at the gauntlet, unable to free herself. 

"Put her down!" Ruby begged, pointing her gun at Yang. 

"Oh? Or you'll what?" Yang scoffed. "You'll kill me? Surprise, Rubes, you've already done that--" 

"She's not the one you have a problem with, is she?" Roman said, resting his cane on the ground. "You and I will settle this. You and me."

Yang cocked her head. "What are you trying to pull?" 

Roman relaxed slightly, but not enough for anyone who was watching to see. Which was how he liked it. For once, he actually had no plan. And he was choosing now to disregard every bit of advice he'd ever given. He was making a heroic sacrifice for someone he didn't know. 

No. It wasn't for Weiss. It was for Ruby. 

"You and me. One on one. No tricks, no running away. Leave her out of this. Keep your feuds among the people who started them, right?"

"...at least you got the sentiment right," Yang said gruffly. She seemed cautious. 

And of course she was finally starting to learn when he ran out of tricks. Not for lack of trying, of course. He still planned on trying to take the Hell Knight down. He just couldn't see anyway to kill the bitch. 

He really wished he hadn't dropped his cigar. 

Yang casually tossed Weiss to the side, swinging her sword as she stepped forward. 

_Maybe I could damage the skull?_ he thought. _Would that kill her? But I suppose whatever magic is animating her--it would be in her soul, not the bones. She'd just be headless._

Two wraiths appeared behind him. 

"No!" Ruby cried, but Roman held up a hand, signalling her to stop. He pulled out a new cigar, lighting it with his cane. 

They really had no way to stop her. The closest they had come was immobilizing her, and that would not work for more than a minute. Maybe Ruby and her friends could get out. Maybe he'd buy them time. 

_Eh. It'll have been worth it._

Yang hesitated. Roman couldn't fathom why until the white walls appeared around him. When they disappeared, he was next to Ruby. 

Both of them. 

"Of course the knight in shining armor shows up," the Hell Knight snarled. 

Cleric scoffed. "You never could let go. So many times you could have just asked."

"Ruby!" Yang's voice cried from behind Roman. He raised his cane, biting hard on his cigar. 

"And is this..." Yang frowned. "Roman from Cleric's world?"

"No," Cleric said. "He's yours, I believe. Same type of soul." A light blue light crackled around her. "I used too much magic against the stupid Haunt person," she muttered, frowning. 

"We can take her and whatever those two are," Raven said, pointing a sword. 

"We could," Cleric agreed. She slipped a hand into her cloak, smiling. "But why risk it?" She pulled out a glass crown of thorns. 

"Oh, fuck," the Hell Knight said as a purple smoke coiled across the room. 

"Alright, Weiss," Cleric said, rolling the crown towards the Hell Knight. "Lessee what you've learned."

"Fiiiiiiiiine," came a voice from the crown, sounding disgusted. Yang recognized the Weiss that appeared--the demon Weiss they'd met earlier that evening. "I'll play the good guy. Just the once."

"You're sicking your demon on me?" the Hell Knight scoffed. "Some good guy. If you were a real hero, you'd come and fight me! It's your fault, you know! _Come and pay penance for your--_ " 

The demon Weiss casually flexed her wrist, and a massive flaming portal opened beneath the Hell Knight. A shadowy black hand reached out, picking up the knight and lifting her into the air. "Put me down this inst--" Demon Weiss grinned, cracking her neck to the side with maliciousness as the shadow hand proceeded to toss Yang around like an ugly rag-doll that it didn't want. 

"That's pretty convenient," Roman said, slowly removing the cigar from his mouth. "That you had that."

"When I can get her to play nice, it comes in handy," Cleric agreed. She turned to Raven, frowning. "Would you mind stepping back a little? You're...in my space."

Raven glared at her. "Excuse you," she muttered. "I am not even close to--"

"Just to be clear, in my world, you were abusive as fuck and I chopped off your arm," Cleric stated simply. "It's more a matter of, 'I'm not comfortable with you being that close to me'."

"...Fair enough," Raven said, stepping back but glaring nonetheless. 

With a final flick of the wrist, Hell Knight Yang was thrown the wall, soaring through the building. 

"...I guess we didn't need to help much," Qrow muttered. 

"The thought is appreciated. From both of you." Yang said. "Meanwhile, Ruby! Your shoulder!"

"I'm fine," Ruby said. "Moreover, I'm glad you're alright. We've been looking all over for you. Er, actually, we just went down."

"Everyone's okay?" Blake said, looking around and seeing everyone nod. "Okay. So--" She tackled Roman and threw him to the ground. "Now we've finally caught him!" 

"Wait! Blake, no!" Ruby grabbed Blake and pulled her aside. "Roman, you okay?"

"Tired as I am, that still did nothing to me," Roman said, rising. 

"What?" Blake asked, flabbergasted. 

"I'll--" Ruby sighed. "I'll explain. It's...I...you know how I've been going on date night every week?" 

"Same day I go out with Blake," Yang said slowly. "Wait just a fucking minute." She rubbed her head. "Are you dating Roman Torchwick?" 

"...a little."

"How do you date a terrorist--" She held up giant air quotes. "--'a little'?"

"This is going to take some time."

"You're content to let them go and fight for their lives?" the Haunt asked. 

Pyrrha scoffed. "First off, it really has nothing to do with me--not my circus, damn sure not my monkeys. Second, I know what you're trying to do. The moment I got off your back, you're gonna disappear and escape and Ravenwing won't have you."

"Not my only trick, rest assured," the Haunt muttered. 

"Yes, you're also going to try tricking me into killing you because you know you'll just reincarnate tomorrow out of Ravenwing custody," Pyrrha said, checking her nails while smiling. 

"Used all these too many times, have I?" the Haunt muttered, squirming beneath Pyrrha. Pyrrha immediately seized the Haunt's broken wrist, twisting it. 

The Haunt gasped in pain. "Uncle, uncle, _uncle._ " She lay flat as Pyrrha released her. "I don't suppose their's any way I can bribe you?" she asked. 

"No."

The Haunt grimaced. "A shame thinking of all the things I could have given you..."

"Try harder."

"I mean, I suppose Velvet would have slept easier knowing she wasn't in danger from Xiao Long, but, whatever. Your call."

Pyrrha grabbed the Haunt by the back of her neck. "What? How did you know about--"

The Haunt gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Oh, come on. Star is the guy that everyone says can kill me forever, and you think I wouldn't have done my research on the three people who travel with him? I've even been to your world and the other two's. Coco and the other Velvet. But, personally, your world was funner."

Pyrrha clenched her spare hand into a fist. "If you want to be very uncomfortable before Star kills you...keep talking."

The Haunt smiled up at her. "Well, just stating facts. I could easily assassinate Yang. Despite how many people she's angered, she keeps frightfully few guards. I got in and out of her bedroom without her ever knowing I was there--believe me, I foresaw a conversation similar to this. I just didn't expect you to be on top of me, y'know? I can think of a lot of enemies to friends jokes here..."

Pyrrha slammed her knee into Haunt's back. "Shut. The fuck. Up."

"Of course, I could instead go for other people you might be mad at," she mused. "Since you obviously don't want things to get better for Velvet, I could make them worse for her. What if dear old Ozpin were to disappear? Maybe that world's Ruby? Frame her for killing Ruby?" She grinned. "Doesn't that sound appropriate?"

Pyrrha slammed her hand into the Haunt's face. "I said SHUT UP!"

The shout echoed through the compound. The distant sound of a generator echoed back. 

"Ooh, a new person," she said, smiling. "Let's see what we're working with."


	14. Out of the Lab

Pyrrha flipped back as a massive shape burst through the wall. The man stood ten feet tall, with a dark gray suit covered in tubes and wires. A small generator sat on his back, running. He had a faceplate covering his eyes, and his lips were pulled back by an odd contraption, giving him the appearance of always smiling. His hands were covered in massive spiked gauntlets. A small rose insignia sat on his shoulder, and his breathing was heavy. He had the general air of an experiment gone wrong. Pyrrha didn't recognize him, but somehow, she felt like the identity wasn't important.

He let out a roar that shook the building, then turned to Pyrrha, then down at the Night Haunt. The Haunt sighed. "Not ideal, but it'll--"

The strange man snarled, smashing into the Haunt with both hands. Blackish blood splattered across the ground, and the Haunt fell still before collapsing into a mist. 

It undoubtedly had hurt a lot. But she would unfortunately live from that, reincarnating somewhere else where Ravenwing couldn't capture her. "Dammit," Pyrrha muttered. 

The experiment roared at her. "DAMMIT!" Pyrrha cried, dodging to the side as he clumsily swung at her. She kicked at him, knocking him back slightly. If he felt her hit, he didn't show it, and continued swiping at her. She dodged around him, striking him rapidly in the side. He turned to face her, roaring down at her. She uppercutted him hard, knocking the faceplate off his eyes. He roared in pain, covering his eyes, but not fast enough to avoid Pyrrha seeing that his face had a massive brand over his eyes. She slugged him, then grabbed his arm and flipped him forward onto the ground. On a hunch, she punched her fist into the generator, watching it sputter and die. She stepped back as the failed experiment moaned and whimpered. 

"What's going on?" Yang called out. Pyrrha was still trying to get used to having Yang as an ally...but given that Yang appeared to be at least tolerant of her nature, Pyrrha felt like she didn't have any room to complain. 

"Is there more of you than before?" she asked, looking over the large group. 

"Well, yes, but--who is that? Where's the Haunt person?" Yang asked. 

"You met the Haunt?" Weiss asked curiously. 

"The Haunt escaped--and believe me, I'm even less happy about that than you are, and my boss is gonna be even less happy when I tell him." She grimaced. "As for this bozo, I have no clue who he is."

"Adam Taurus," Blake answered. "I...I met this world's version of him."

"Ah."

"What next?" Ruby asked. 

"We leave," Cleric answered, pointing to the ladder. "Door's open, right?"

"We use the staircase," Roman said, pointing down a corridor. "Ruby is not putting any weight on that shoulder for a long time."

"So..." Raven scratched her head. "While we're leaving, anyone want to explain what the hell this place is?"

"I have no clue," Yang answered. 

Roman pulled a book out of his jacket. "Ahem. I got their employee instruction manual. This is actually really cool."

"You set her on fire?" Raven asked, following Yang up to the door. 

"...admittedly, that's gonna weigh a little on my conscience," Yang said, awkwardly rubbing her head. 

"Don't let it! Stupid Salad Bitch had it coming."

"Whoa." Ruby hesitated outside the door. Several pitch black trucks sat parked in front of the lab, each with a raven logo emblazoned on the sides. 

"Ravenwing," the ghoul Pyrrha said. She stepped out of the group, rushing over to what appeared to be Coco and Velvet dressed in black and talking excitedly with them. 

"We were so worried!" Coco burst out with. "We thought you were gonna die!"

"Where is she?" a new voice asked. A man in a gray trenchcoat and bowler hat stepped out of the crowd of Ravenwing agents. He had one hand on his sheathed sword, his skin a bleached white, and frowned as he examined the group. "Where's the Haunt?"

"She...got away," came the reply. 

"'Under control' my ass," came a voice. A woman in white armor jumped off a truck, carrying a pale white staff. For a split second, Ruby thought it was another version of herself. No, it appeared to be...

Summer Rose tapped the trenchcoat man's chest. "Next time you tell me you have it under control, I'm gonna point out this time, and laugh it up in your face," she snarled. 

"Yes, because you fighting the Night Haunt worked out so much better last time you tried it," he said, unfazed by Summer's threat. All chatter among the Ravenwing officers stopped as they turned to Summer. Summer's face reddened, and she started and stopped saying something several times. 

She finally slashed through the air with her sword, opening up a white portal and simply left. 

"Th'name's Star," he said, turning to the group. "I reckon that not all of you are from this dimension?"

Cleric led Neo forward. "We need to be heading on our way now," she said. "Though, one question. My half-sister Yang. Any chance you could leave her down below?"

"Er, no. It's kind of our one job," Star replied. "She's not an interdimensional threat, so she's your problem, not ours."

"Ah. I see." She sighed as Star reached over and pushed a button on a computer. "You call your world Alloran, right?" he asked. Cleric nodded. "Ah. I don't suppose you have phones in your world, do you?"

"Depends on what that is."

"How do you communicate with friends over long distances?" Star asked. 

"Messenger pigeon. Duh."

Star sighed. He pulled out a small pamphlet, handing it to her as a portal opened up. "If you ever need help with an interdimensional problem, just...follow the steps. It's not entirely reliable, but for worlds without cell service, it's what we're stuck with."

"Gotcha," Cleric said. "I wish you fair weather, guys." She gave a half salute before leading Neo through the portal and leaving herself. 

"I'll get to you guys just a sec," Star said, holding up a finger. "These two are a higher priority."

"Thank you," said the yellow haired girl sitting beside the computer. "As cool an experience as this was, I kinda want to head home now."

"97:71--Remnant," Star muttered, tapping some keys. "Well, Sunny, Armora. Head on home."

"Thanks!" The yellow haired one, Sunny, peered past him. "Whoa. Aunt Yang looks weird with both her arms." With that, she went through the portal. The second girl, dressed in a leather jacket and slate black armor, gave a friendly wave before leaving herself. 

"All in black," muttered Star. "Fuckin' edgelord. Maybe we're something with more color than your personality, eh?" Shaking his head, he turned to them. "Okay. Team RWBY, JNPR, old guys."

"Hey!"

"Excuse you!"

Ignoring them, Star smiled. "You're already home, aren't you?"

"Where's Roman?" Yang asked, looking around. 

"Something tells me we'll see him around," Ruby said with a smile. 

Star handed them a card. "If you ever need interdimensional aid, call. Don't hesitate. You guys need a ride home?"

"I think we can manage," Ruby said, looking at her friends. 

"Well..." Raven paused. "See you round." Then, she turned into a bird and flew off. Qrow chuckled. "Didn't expect much from her, mind you," he said. 

Star smiled. "You've all earned yourself some rest. Go get it. We'll handle the rest of this." 

"What about the Haunt?" Weiss asked. 

Star sighed. "We'll handle that too, but it'll take a while. Long enough so that you could probably write a book about it. Several, even."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endings are not generally my strong suit. :P  
> This series is centered on the Night Haunt--all the fics in it will have the Night Haunt in them, and they will usually be about people in different dimensions encountering the Haunt. I've already got several stories planned out about her, and how the series is going to end.   
> But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I already have the next fic I'm going to write planned out, and it's not one in the series, but you can enjoy it nonetheless!  
> Also, if you want to talk to me, I have a Discord server now! Send me a message and we can talk!


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